Never buy from children

From some tourist called Anna Kainberger through KI Media

Buying a book from either a landmine victim or a child is another option for putting some money back into the community - money better spent than paying the US$6 admission fee at the grand palace.

No that is not so. You never buy from children. It keeps the cycle of poverty going. It keeps very young children late on the streets, in a very vunerable position. The children who sell/beg are at risk of drug abuse, rape, violence, prostitution and trafficking.

The more you give/buy the more time the children spend on the street. If they are lucky enough to go to school, their learning is impaired due to exhaustion.

Besides, whatever money you give to children ends up in the pocket of their minder who waits on a motorbike around the corner.

Giving money to children or buying roses hinders the work of great NGOs like Mith Samlanh who work to educate and train children to have a future. Support NGOs who support children instead.

Broken heart? Stay at home

From Reuters

Lovelorn staff at a Japanese marketing company can take paid time off after a bad break-up with a partner, with more "heartache leave" on offer as they get older.

Tokyo-based Hime & Company, which also gives staff paid time off to hit the shops during sales season, says heartache leave allows staff to cry themselves out and return to work refreshed. "Not everyone needs to take maternity leave but with heartbreak, everyone needs time off, just like when you get sick," CEO Miki Hiradate, whose company of six women markets cosmetics and other goods targeted for women, told Reuters by telephone.

Staff aged 24 years or younger can take one day off per year, while those between 25 and 29 can take two days off and those older can take three days off, the company said.

What a fabulous idea! Now that's an understanding employer. So much better than staring at the ceiling and biting your lip to stop the tears. But how many of those employees will be in work in 15 February?

Could do with some of that here. According to my horoscope, it's heart in a blender time!

leo (July 23rd-Aug. 22nd)
If you're looking for a challenge, you've found it! If you're looking for an "unconventional" relationship, you've found it! If sweet, loving, tender, committed, long-term relationships seem "boring" to you, then you won't find this one dull! If you're looking to have your heart pummeled in a blender, it's your lucky week!

Luckily I don't believe in astrology.

War crimes

From the BBC

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said he will not let his country's blockade of the Gaza Strip turn into a humanitarian crisis.

But he said he could not allow Gazans to live normal lives while people in southern Israel were under rocket fire.

He was speaking hours after tens of thousands of Palestinians surged into Egypt to buy supplies as the border wall was partly destroyed.

Egypt has said it will not use force to send them back.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said the border would be closed again when all the Palestinians had returned.

Depriving people of medicine, food supplies and electricity. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians surging into Egypt to buy supplies seems, to me, to already be a humanitarian crisis.

When the UN cannot deliver the necessary amount of food and medicine and when there is a severe fuel shortage

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) today reports that the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains very difficult.

According to UNRWA [The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East], the Israeli authorities have introduced new security measures – mainly for sugar and flour – which are hampering the delivery of aid. The agency did manage to get three truckloads of powdered milk in today, but it had been hoping for 9. In addition, an expected truckload of medicines never made it through.

Regarding fuel, UNRWA says only 200,000 liters went to the main power plant in Gaza today. An additional 750,000 liters went yesterday. This falls well short of the 2.2 million liters promised by the Israeli authorities. If the current fuel levels continue, the power plant may shut down by the end of the week, UNRWA adds.

it is a humanitarian crisis. I find Ehud Olmert's denials disgusting. It is wrong to punish a civilian population. There are laws against that. In fact Israel's latest action could be considered as crimes against humanity and/or war crimes depending on intent and ability to prove in an international tribunal.

For way more information, videos and telling photos, check out

Gaza by nosnowhere
The largest prison break in history by Fadi
Tens of thousands of Palestinians break through border wall by Brownfemipower

Say NO to violence against women

What's one of the biggest reasons for suffering from violence?

- War?
- Racism?
- Extremism?
- Terrorism?
- Being born a woman?

One in three women is a victim of violence.

UNIFEM has launched a new campaign. Watch the video. Sign the petition. Tell your friends. Say NO to violence against women.

Jerry O Connell rips the piss out of Tom Cruise

Here's the vid...

(h/t dlisted)



And just in case you missed the original...

RIP Heath Ledger

Loved him in Brokeback and 10 things. A great actor. Allegedly died of a drug overdose. It's a familiar story. RIP Heath.

Rat - the other white meat

They may carry the flies that carry the plague but in Cambodia they are just another source of protein.

The rocketing price of more conventional meats due to bird flu quarantines and world oil prices has doubled the market price of rat meat in Cambodia, local media reported Tuesday. Rat meat has become so valuable that rice farmers "in their hundreds" had set up sideline businesses catching rats and making them table-ready, reported the Khmer-language daily Kampuchea Thmey.

Cambodians in certain provinces have long caught rats as a protein source when rodent numbers reach a peak during the rice harvest and enjoy the meat roasted or dried as a snack while drinking. (Source)

To each their own I suppose. Must. Not. Judge.

Dream for Cambodia?

The Cambodian government banned an anti-genocide rally that was organised by Dream for Darfur at Tuol Sleng yesterday. Their reason was that it was a political stunt to smear China. Cambodia leaps to China's defence at the smallest provocation.

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodian police barred Hollywood actress Mia Farrow and other activists from laying flowers at a "Killing Fields" museum on Sunday, as part of a campaign to end atrocities in Sudan's Darfur.

Some 100 baton-wielding police blocked Farrow, who fronts the Dream for Darfur pressure group, and her fellow activists from entering the compound at Tuol Sleng, the Phnom Penh high school that became Pol Pot's main torture centre.

"Darfur has nothing to do with Cambodia. Go protest in Darfur," Phnom Penh police chief Touch Naruth told reporters after the brief stand-off ended without incident.

The group, which had planned to light a symbolic Olympic torch in the compound, has held similar events in Chad, Rwanda, Armenia, Germany and Bosnia as part of a campaign to persuade China to push Khartoum into ending the violence in Darfur.

The group, which included a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, were due to hold a press conference later in the day.

Beijing is hosting the 2008 Olympic Games and human rights groups have targeted China in the hope of using the spotlight thrown on the country to influence Chinese foreign policy.

Farrow said in an earlier interview that Phnom Penh was putting the interests of Beijing, one of its biggest donors, above the memories of the estimated 1.7 million victims of Pol Pot's 1975-79 reign of terror. (Source)

As we all know, China is Cambodia's close friend. Can't allow anything that might involve a loss of face. Cambodia loves China for the 'no strings' aid. China, unlike other donors, does not require benchmarks, or development goals which makes it far easier to build golf courses instead of feeding the food and dispossessing the poor to build casinos for rich business people.

The Cambodian government, which has strong economic and political ties with China, said days ago it would prevent the 62-year-old actress from going through with the ceremony. The government accused Farrow of having "a political agenda against China" and staging the event for political rather than humanitarian reasons.

Farrow denied that her intentions were political in an interview Saturday, and said she was determined to press ahead with the ceremony.

"It's pretty harsh to be against a ceremony that honors the victims of Darfur and genocide survivors everywhere," Farrow said. (Source)

Khieu Kanharith, Minister for Information, called Farrow and others from 'Dream for Darfur' ignorant foreigners who were trying to raise money by exploiting Cambodia's genocide.

Well bluster aside (Government rhetoric), history aside (China supported the Khmer Rouge), Cambodia is currently investigating the crimes against humanity and genocide of the KR. It is curious therefore that the rally wasn't permitted or a least a more plausible excuse to stop it not found.

I suppose with the political situation in Cambodia, the government can say and do whatever it chooses because regardless they won't be voted out of office. So what should they care what the world thinks?

Land grabbing - the same old story

Source

See the lake? The Boeng Kak Lake? It's known as backpacker central. People hang out, enjoy the breeze and patronise the local drinking establishments and guesthouses. Besides the backpackers, there are hundreds of families living around the lake, who earn their livings through the provision of services to tourists. They own their land, well legally anyway.

A Korean company has won the government-sponsored contract to drain 90% of the lake. Although they do not have a contract to dispossess the residents, that's that the Phnom Penh police force is for. Plans to evict hundreds of families from their homes are going ahead in spite of much local opposition.

Oh well the company's lease on the area is only 99 years. Perhaps the residents might get their land back eventually. It's the cost of living in Cambodia these days. Land grabbing and corruption are widespread. The government breaks its promises to provide new housing and support. It doesn't even matter that this is an election year because the PM has stated that if his ruling party doesn't win, he'll start a civil war.

The Black Death returneth

The plague episode of House apart, the Black Death is finito right? Well not according to the Beeb

Research by Professor Michael Begon at the University of Liverpool revealed the deadly disease, also known as the Black Death, has re-emerged.

It has only killed 200 people since 1998, but Prof Begon said the threat is "growing" in Africa and the US.

The plague is caused by infected fleas carried by rats which spreads easily.

As the disease is almost impossible to wipe out, it is increasingly being passed by rodents to humans by rodents, which can kill people within a few days if not treated with antibiotics...

"Because of the disease's inherent communicability, rapid spread, rapid clinical course, and high mortality if left untreated...

"Plague appears to be on the increase, and for the first time there have been major outbreaks in Africa."

So if you feel poorly be on the lookout for black oozing pustules, just in case.

Happy new year

Been away from Bloglandia but I will return soon with more vitriol and bitching. In the meantime some funny:

"A man may fight for many things. His country, his friends, his principles, the glistening tear on the cheek of a golden child. But personally, I'd mud-wrestle my own mother for a ton of cash, an amusing clock and a sack of French porn." - Blackadder

"My doctor says that I have a malformed public-duty gland and a natural deficiency in moral fibre, and that I am therefore excused from saving Universes." - Ford Prefect

"I smeared my opponents, bribed the press to be on my side, and threatened to torture the electorate if we lost! I fail to see what more a decent politician could have done." - Pitt the even Younger

"So in the name of security, all men entering the premises must have their bottoms fondled by this drooling pervert?" - Blackadder

"If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now." - Zaphod Beeblebrox

"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof was to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools" - Ford Prefect

"Come on, Ted. Sure it's no more peculiar than all that stuff we learned in the seminary, you know, Heaven and Hell and everlasting life and all that type of thing. You're not meant to take it seriously, Ted!" - Father Dougal

"They were a bit obsessed with the old...S-E-X. God I'm glad I never think of that type of thing Father. That whole sexual world. God, when you think of it it's a dirty, filthy thing, isn't it Father? Can you imagine Father? Can you imagine Father, looking up at your husband, him standing over you with his lad in his hand, wanting you to degrade yourself? God almighty can you imagine that Father? Can you picture it there Father? Oh get a good mental picture of it. Can you see him there? Ready to do the business? - Mrs Doyle

"I'm not a fascist, I'm a priest. Fascists dress in black and go around telling people what to do, whereas...priests..." - Father Ted